I was trying to run for the presidency in Uganda - yet men still found the audacity to call me 'baby, sweetheart, darlin
I was trying to run for the presidency in Uganda – yet men still found the audacity to call me ‘baby, sweetheart, darling’
Yvonne Mpambara
I was bruised by my experience of being kept out of an exclusively male political club – now my focus is on getting women into power in Africa
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theguardian.org
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Wed 5 Nov 2025 01.00 EST
It’s six weeks since the electoral commission of Uganda announced the eight candidates for the country’s 2026 presidential election. The fact that they are all men is an outrage – and entirely unsurprising. Of the 221 people who expressed an interest in running for president, 15 were women; and of those, only three of us gained enough voter support to be considered for nomination. Men in politics argue that the all-male ballot is the result of a fair and neutral electoral system. But how can women, who do not have access to the same resources and who have always been disenfranchised, compete on a level playing field? Far from being fair, neutrality maintains an environment where women are continually shoved out of the top power structures under the guise of competition.
One of the reasons I decided to run for president was to break the barriers around the position. Women represent 30% in government. However, since Uganda’s independence in 1962, only four women have contested for the presidency. It remains a deeply gendered and symbolic office; still associated with traditional masculinity, military credentials and strongman politics. Whenever certain categories of Ugandans try to pursue top leadership they are told, “Not you! Not now! Not like that!” This is used against women, youth and Ugandans who have no access to funds to run exorbitant campaigns. The more I observed this intentionally discriminatory narrative used to exclude people such as me from leadership, the more I realised that I could not continue to watch from the sidelines.
We are a young nation where millions of Ugandans are below the age of 35. Yet power has remained in the hands of the same elite few for generations. The 2026 ballot includes 81-year-old incumbent Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power since 1986. The politics of fear, patronage and silence has held us back. This election is different because there is a deeper hunger for change, justice, for opportunity. As a 33-year-old woman from a civil society background anchored in human rights, I offered an alternative vision for Uganda’s future, no more recycled politics in new clothes and rehashed promises.
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I have also started community consultations to build an all-female political party and movement (Women Freedom Fighters) aimed at strengthening Ugandan women’s bids for presidency through structured leadership systems. The 2026 presidential race was challenging because only candidates from established political parties were nominated, yet no woman in Uganda heads a political party or sits high enough in the ranks of party structures to make the decisions. Women, despite political parties challenging the incumbent regime on promises of inclusion, are still used as quota fillers rather than final decision makers. Forming a party that will only endorse women for the presidential race in Uganda will mark the first of its kind in the east African region. My experience of the presidential race was bruising, but it is not the end. I am not giving up this dream.
Yvonne Mpambara is a social justice lawyer and activist who was an aspiring presidential candidate in Uganda for the 2026 elections
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/nov/05/in-uganda-men-called-me-baby-sweetheart-darling-i-was-trying-to-run-for-the-presidency